After more than ten years serving at Oasis Residential Home, Christa Fuentes has learned something unexpected: the most meaningful moments rarely happen while she’s teaching.
A professional shoe designer from Guatemala, Christa has faithfully served with Athentikos for more than a decade, returning to Oasis whenever she can. She brings creativity, artistic excellence, and years of experience to every I AM ART Camp. But those who know her best understand that those are not the reasons she keeps coming back.
She returns because of the girls.
Over the years, conversations have deepened. Trust has grown. Shared meals, worship, laughter, creative projects, and quiet moments of presence have woven lasting relationships between Christa and many of the young women who call Oasis home. Each visit is another opportunity to remind them that they are seen, valued, and deeply loved by God.
This summer, Christa led the Creative Writing Workshop, where participants explored their personal stories through journaling, abstract painting, and mixed-media art. The girls began by creating expressive paintings on canvas before carefully transforming the artwork into handmade journals. The empty wooden frames were rewoven with colorful yarn to create boards for displaying words of encouragement and reminders of God’s truth.
Like every I AM ART project, the workshop invited the girls not simply to hear about restoration, but to experience it.
One young woman approached the week quietly, participating with care but rarely drawing attention to herself. As the restoration session unfolded, the wooden frame that would become her yarn board suddenly broke apart. The wood twisted. The yarn loosened. Hours of patient work seemed lost in an instant.
For her, it felt like another disappointment. But after the workshop ended, another story quietly began. Rather than setting the broken project aside, Christa stayed.
Together with fellow volunteer Chris, who was leading the Wood Workshop, she carefully removed each strand of yarn so it wouldn’t become tangled. Chris repaired the frame while several volunteers patiently restrung every thread, rebuilding the piece one careful step at a time long after the participants had gone home.
The young woman never saw what happened that evening. She simply returned the next morning to discover that what she thought had been lost had been lovingly restored.
When volunteer Gemma invited her to share a word about her artwork during the final exhibition, she spoke about far more than a repaired frame. She reflected on how restoring her project had changed the way she thought about her own life. What had felt like another reminder of brokenness had quietly become a reminder that brokenness is never the end of the story.
Perhaps that is why Christa continues to return. Not because every project turns out perfectly. Not because every breakthrough happens during a workshop. But because she has spent more than a decade watching God restore lives in quiet, often unseen ways—through faithful presence, patient love, and relationships that continue long after camp has ended.
Reflecting on the week, Christa shared,
“I’m grateful for Athentikos and to see how the Lord and the Holy Spirit moved during our time together.”
That simple gratitude reflects the heart of her service. The journals will eventually fill with new prayers, reflections, and dreams. The artwork will find its place on bedroom walls. But the greatest work of restoration is rarely found in the finished projects. It is found in the relationships that endure.
Year after year, Christa continues to return—not because the work is finished, but because she has seen what faithful love can become over time. Through every conversation, every workshop, and every quiet act of service, she reminds the girls of Oasis that restoration is possible, hope is alive, and in Christ, no story is ever beyond redemption.
Read the Full Impact Report for Oasis I AM ART camp here.
